Recruiting Dumbledore's Army
by Philosophi Lapis
Summary: Ron and Hermione convince their fellow students to join a secret Defence Against the Dark Arts group.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

This is a story of how Ron and Hermione convinced their fellow students to learn Defence Against the Dark Arts from Harry. POV will change from chapter to chapter. I will specify whose POV each chapter is in. (usually it will either be Ron's or Hermione's but there are some chapters that they won't appear in) I know that Dumbledore's Army didn't have a name until the first meeting, but I couldn't think of a better title. All that been said here is the first chapter

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**POV:Ron**

Ron Weasley looked at his watch as he waited for the bell to signall the end of classes for the day. His Herbology lesson had been somewhat enjoyable, apart from the huge amount of homework that Professor Sprout had set them, but he was anxious to get to Quidditch practice.

"_I'll try really hard tonight_" he thought "_If I just concentrate and don't let Fred and George…"_

"OUCH!"

Everyone in the greenhouse immediately turned to stare at Harry Potter, who had just been stung by a Venomous Tentacula.

"Hospital wing, Potter" said Professor Sprout. "Miss Granger, you go with him."

Harry and Hermione Granger gathered up their books and headed back to the castle. Ten minutes later Ron met Hermione in the Gryffindor common room.

"Where's Harry?" he asked.

"Still in the hospital wing" said Hermione "Madam Pomfrey says he'll be all right. But he's going to miss Quidditch practice."

"Yeah I'd better get down to the pitch" said Ron moving towards the boys staircase.

"Wait a second" said Hermione "Ron, I think you should ask if" Hermione looked around the common room to make sure no one was close enough to overhear her and lowered her voice "_if anyone on the Quidditch team is interested in learning Defence Against the Dark Arts from Harry_"

"But Fred and George will just laugh themselves stupid" groaned Ron.

"But the first Hogsmeade weekend is less than two weeks away" said Hermione urgently "And we need to find people who believe Harry"

"Yeah Angelina believes him" said Ron sarcastically "Remember she told Harry to go to Umbridge and say that You-Know-Who was a figment of his imagination?" Without giving Hermione a chance to answer, Ron continued "And I bet Alicia and Katie will just go along with what she says"

"For goodness sake, Ron!" said Hermione angrily "Alicia and Katie can think for themselves. They're not er…"

"Crabbe and Goyle?" suggested Ron.

"Well yes them" said Hermione "Just ask them, won't you?"

"Alright I'll do it" said Ron. "I'd better get going or I'll be late"

Ron ran upstairs for his broomstick.

"Good luck, Ron" called Hermione as he ran out of the portrait hole.

Whether Hermione meant good luck with practice or trying to convince the rest of the team to learn Defence Against The Dark Arts from Harry, Ron didn't know. What he did know was that he was now late for Quidditch practice which meant that Angelina was sure to be in a bad mood with him.

Ron was right. When he entered the changing rooms the first words out of Angelina's mouth were "You're late, Weasley! If you want to stay on the team make sure you turn up to practice on time like everyone else!"

"Sorry" mumbled Ron. But Angelina was still shouting.

"Where's Potter?" she demanded angrily leaping to her feet. "If he's landed himself in detention again, go and tell him from me that he's off the team"

"He's not" said Ron quickly "He got stung by a Venomous Tentacula. He's in the hospital wing"

"Is he all right?" asked Alicia.

"I think so" said Ron. "I don't know how long he'll be in there though"

"Well we may as well get started then" said Angelina. Most of her bad temper appeared to have subsided. Fred, George, Alicia and Katie got to their feet and shouldered their brooms.

"Wait a minute" said Ron "What do you think about learning Defence Against The Dark Arts"

"We hate it" said Fred at once

"And we aren't learning anything either" said George "Why do you ask? Training to be the next High Inquisitor are we, Ickle Prefect?"

"This isn't the time to discuss Defence Against the Dark Arts" said Angelina crossly before Ron had even opened his mouth. "We have a training session. Ron, George, bring the…"

"Hang on" interrupted Alicia "Ron, why are you asking if we like Defence Against the Dark Arts?"

"Like Fred said, we hate it" said Angelina "It should be obvious why. End of story. Let's go"

"No, I want to hear what Ron's got to say" said Alicia glaring at Angelina.

"It can wait" said Angelina leading the way onto the pitch. The rest of the team followed.

"Don't mind Angelina" Alicia whispered to Ron "She's just stressed. She'll calm down once the season's over"

The training session did not go well. Ron, nervous at the idea of asking older students to join a secret defence group, failed to make a single save and was constantly having to dive down to fetch the quaffle. As a result, Angelina kept halting practice to shout at him.

"JUST CATCH THE BLOODY QUAFFLE, RON! IT'S NOT THAT HARD!" she finally screamed. "If Bletchley can do it, you can. FRED AND GEORGE, IF YOU DO THAT ONE MORE TIME…"

Fred and George had been trying to knock each other off their brooms. No one was in a very good mood once the session was finished. Ron avoided looking at anyone else as he changed out of his Quidditch robes.

"What did you want to ask us, Ron" said Alicia.

Ron gulped.

"You er all believe Harry, don't you? About You Know Who?" he asked. He wasn't going to tell anyone what he, Harry and Hermione were planning until he was sure they could be trusted.

"We do" said Fred and George proudly.

"So do I" said Katie.

"Me too" said Alicia "What about you, Angelina?"

Angelina appeared to be thinking hard.

"I don't know" she said at last.

"What do you mean you don't know?" shouted Fred "It's a simple question. Do you believe Harry? Yes or no?"

"Don't tell me you take all the rubbish in the Daily Prophet seriously" said George. "If you do, I'll resign from this team right now".

George strode across the room ready to carry out his threat.

"No it's not that" said Angelina quickly. "It's hard to explain"

"You can tell us" said Alicia "Sit down George"

George sat down between Ron and Fred.

"Alright then" he said addressing Angelina "Why are you having such a hard time with this?"

"Well I know Harry doesn't go out of his way to get attention" she said thoughtfully "And Dumbledore would never lie to us. It's just that when I went home at the end of last year I expected everything to be…" Angelina broke off. She looked as if she was afraid to finish her sentence.

"Like what?" asked Fred sounding half curious half

"Like it was before" whispered Angelina.

"Before what?" asked Ron "you don't mean when You Know Who was…"

Angelina nodded.

"You can remember that?" said Katie

"A bit" said Angelina.

"I can't remember any of it" said George "Can you, Fred?"

Fred shook his head.

"Neither can I" said Alicia "What was it like?"

"I don't remember everything about it" admitted Angelina "just that people were scared. And all the adults I knew were jumpy around each other. It was like no one trusted anyone else. My mum didn't like me playing with other kids because she didn't know if we could trust their parents. The only person anyone really seemed to trust was Dumbledore. And…"

"What?" asked Alicia.

"Oh I was just thinking. You know that nearly everyone except Dumbledore is scared to say You-Know-Who's name…"

"Harry says it" interrupted Ron.

"Harry says You-Know-Who's name?" said Katie as Alicia shot Ron a nasty look.

"Yeah he's said it since our first year" said Ron "Sorry, Angelina, what were you saying?"

"If you think people are scared to say his name now, back then it seemed worse. It could be because I'm older now and I understand it better, I don't know. But when I was younger it was like some people were even afraid to say You-Know-Who" said Angelina "Anyway it's not like that now. When I got home and told my parents that You-Know-Who was back they looked at me like I was crazy. Then of course the Daily Prophet started printing all this stuff about Harry being an attention seeking show off and Dumbledore going senile. I stopped reading it after about a week"

"Did your parents believe it?" asked Katie.

"I never asked them" said Angelina "They never said anything either way to me about it"

"How come you stopped reading the Daily Prophet?" asked Ron.

"I didn't think that a lot of the stuff they were printing was true" said Angelina.

There was a very long moment of silence in which everyone avoided looking at each other, yet they all seemed to be waiting for someone else to say something.

"I believe Harry" said Angelina quietly after about a minute. "Now what did you want to ask us, Ron"

Ron took a deep breath. This was going to be easy now that he knew they all supported Harry.

"How would you like to learn real Defence Against the Dark Arts?" he asked "Not reading a boring text book, not trying to catch Cornish Pixies. I mean stuff we can actually use to defend ourselves."

"Who's going to be teaching us?" asked George "McGonagall? Flitwick?"

Ron shook his head.

"Who then?" asked Fred. "If it's Snape I'm not doing it"

"Neither am I" declared George.

The Chasers also expressed their refusal to take extra lessons from Snape.

"No, not Snape" Ron assured them.

"Well who?" demanded Fred

"Harry!"

Looks of uncertainty appeared on every face.

"But we're older than Harry" Angelina pointed out "We've already learnt the stuff that he has"

"Only what you've learnt in class" said Ron "We're not doing that. We're going to be learning real defence spells, like Harry used in the Triwizard"

"What sort of spells?" asked Katie interestedly.

Ron counted on his fingers.

"There was Stunning, Disarming…"

"But we learnt the Disarming spell when Lockhart had that dueling club" said Fred.

"And it was the _only _spell we learned" said Ron "And Harry was better at it than us when we practiced on the train. What else? Oh yeah, the Impediment jinx, Shield charm, Reductor curse" he looked around at the rest of the team who were hanging on his every word. He almost had them convinced. He just needed one more thing to persuade them "I have to make them think they should do this" he thought and it came to him "Harry was the only one in our class who could fight the Imperius Curse last year"

Fred let out a low whistle. Katie's eyes widened.

"No one in my year could do it" she said in awe.

"Nor ours" said Alicia. "Not even Angelina and she'd already turned seventeen when Professor – I mean Mr. - You know who I mean. When he did it to us.

"Harry threw it off completely after about for tries" said Ron. "I told you he's good at Defence Against the Dark Arts. He's easily the best in our year, even better than Hermione. Now do you lot want to have lessons from him or not?"

"I do" said Alicia at once "We're leaving at the end of this year and I want to be ready for what's out there. And we've got N.E.W.Ts this year"

"So what?" said Fred and George together.

"Yes, we know you two don't care about N.E.W.Ts" said Angelina irritably "But we do. I want to do it as well"

"So do I" said Katie.

"We're doing it too" said Fred speaking for himself and George "We don't care about exams, but we want to be able to do something useful".

"OK" said Ron "Come to the Hog's Head. Twelve o'clock, first Hogsmeade weekend. That's when we're going to work everything out properly. Hermione can tell you where it is if you don't know"

Ron got up and left the change rooms. There was no denying that practice had been terrible, but he was very pleased with himself for having convinced five students, four of whom were seventh years, to join the secret defence group that he, Harry and Hermione were planning.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

POV: Hermione

Hermione Granger walked along the Hogwarts corridors as she accompanied her friend Harry Potter to the hospital wing.

"How's your hand?" she asked. Harry had been stung by a Venomous Tentacula and his right hand was swelling rapidly.

"It stings a bit" said Harry "But still not nearly as bad as Umbridge's quill"

Harry had spent two weeks in detention writing lines with a quill that cut into his hand.

"You really ought to tell Professor McGonagall about that, Harry" said Hermione earnestly. "It could be illegal"

"Well since it's me Umbrigde is doing it to, I don't think most of the Ministry will be too fussed" said Harry.

Hermione didn't say anything. Partly because she knew Harry was right and partly because they had reached the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey, the matron, looked at Harry's swollen hand which was starting to turn a nasty shade of purple.

"When did this happen?" she asked sharply

"Bout five minutes ago" said Harry.

"Have a seat, Potter" said Madam Pomfrey pointing to the nearest unoccupied bed. As Harry sat down, Madam Pomfrey strode off towards her office muttering to herself. She soon returned with two bottles of potion. The first, a dark red one that looked almost like blood, she gave to Harry to drink. Judging from the look on his face, it was not pleasant. The second, a clear, jelly like substance, she rubbed into his hand.

"This will have to be put on every half hour until your hand returns to normal, Potter" she said in a very business like manner "it shouldn't take more than a few hours"

"A few hours!" Harry repeated "But I've got Quidditch practice"

"You'll have to miss it, I'm afraid, Potter"

Madam Pomfrey returned to her office. Harry lay back on his bed.

"Angelina's going to kill me" he said gloomily.

"She'll understand, Harry" said Hermione "I'll get Ron to tell her"

"You'd better hurry up, practice starts at five o'clock" said Harry. "And if I don't show up she'll come looking for me"

Hermione left the hospital wing to find Ron, vaguely listening to Harry saying that at least he didn't have to worry about getting to the hospital wing when Angelina was finished with him.

There was no sign of Ron when Hermione entered the Gryffindor common room. She thought he must already be at Quidditch practise. Hermione had just made up her mind to go down to the pitch and tell Angelina that Harry was going to miss practise when the portrait hole opened and Ron came in.

After being informed that Harry would not be able to attend Quidditch practise and promising Hermione that he would find out if anyone on the Quidditch team was interested in learning Defence Against the Dark Arts from Harry, with no conviction in his voice, Ron left the common room again. Hermione looked around for people who she thought might be interested in learning proper defensive magic.

The common room was mostly full of older students whom Hermione felt she didn't know well enough to ask them to join a secret defence group.

"Just because you don't know them it doesn't mean they're not interested" she told herself "Some of them might want to learn some defensive magic, even if it is just to pass their exams"

Feeling half anxious, half stupid Hermione headed towards two girls sitting around a table near the noticeboard.

"…why Johnson chose Weasley for Keeper, he was terrible at tryouts" one girl was saying.

"It'll be because of his brothers, Vicky" said a second girl bitterly. "Wouldn't surprise me" said Vicky. "You know Johnson said she didn't want me on the team just because I'm in too many other clubs"

Vicky's friend nodded.

"And Geoffery Hooper was better than Weasley at tryouts, but he didn't get on the team because Johnson doesn't like him or something like that" said Vicky. "Anyway, I don't like Johnson that much so I'm sort of glad I'm not on the team. But the way she goes on about Quidditch you'd think it was a life or death situation. You've heard her yelling at Potter, haven't you?"

"Well if Potter's going to make up all that rubbish about You-Know-Who…"

Hermione didn't bother to listen to anymore of what they were saying. Two things were clear about these girls. The first was that they thought Harry was a liar. The second was that they didn't like Angelina. While Hermione agreed that Quidditch was by no means the most important part of Hogwarts life, she liked Angelina and was sure she didn't choose Ron to be Gryffindor's Keeper because of Fred and George.

"_Still I wish she'd stop being so hard on Harry when he gets detention_" thought Hermione. "_I wonder if I should tell her what he's doing. No he'll just get angry with me_"

She looked around again and spotted Parvati and Lavender sitting by themselves near the back of the common room. Hermione debated with herself whether or not to go and talk to them for a minute. On their first night back, Lavender had said she thought Harry was lying about Lord Voldemort's return. Hermione and Lavender had not spoken since then, so Hermione did not know if Lavender had changed her mind or not. Hermione wondered if it would be better to talk to Parvati on her own.

"_She'll probably just go and tell Lavender anyway_" she thought. Hermione made up her mind and headed over to Parvati and Lavender. Parvati was speaking to Lavender and writing in a large book as she spoke.

"There was a pig – that means work. And trees and the trunks were bent I think that means something unexpected

"What are you doing?"asked Hermione.

"Professor Trelawney's asked us to keep a diary of our dreams" said Lavender. "Do you want to tell us about one of yours? We could tell you what it means"

"No thank you" said Hermione politely. She did not care for Divination although it provided her with a means of asking Parvati and Lavender if they wanted to learn Defence Against the Dark Arts from Harry.

"I heard that Professor Trelawney was quite upset after Umbridge inspected her" Hermione continued.

"Of course she was upset" said Lavender launching into an account of Umbridge's inspection of Professor Trelawney and the lesson that took place after Trelawney had received her results.

Hermione listened to Lavender's tirade about Professor Trelawney. Not adding that she thought Umbridge's perception about her was probably accurate.

"You know I think she's an awful teacher. Umbridge, I mean" said Hermione in the hope of changing the subject to Defence Against the Dark Arts. But it was Parvati who, inadvertently, bought up the subject first.

"She's easily the worst teacher we've ever had" she said "I don't see how she expects us to pass our O.W.L if we'll be doing spells for the first time during the exam. Learning the theory isn't going to help us. I've got a good mind to practise some spells in private, in our dormitory, I know it won't be anywhere near as good as learning them from a teacher, but it's better than nothing"

"Oooh that's an idea" whispered Lavender.

"It's funny you should say that" said Hermione "Because I wanted – wait a second" Hermione had just seen Ginny Weasley coming in through the portrait hole. She got up and bought her over to sit with Parvati and Lavender.

"Well I was saying that I wanted to ask you if you wanted to learn some real defence spells" said Hermione. "I've asked Harry and he's agreed to teach people who are interested"

"I'll be in it" said Ginny at once.

"I think it could be useful" said Parvati eagerly. "Would it be alright if Padma comes along, too?"

"Yes, of course" said Hermione happily. "What about you, Lavender?"

Lavender looked both interested in having real Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons and uncomfortable at the idea of having the lessons from Harry.

"Do you think it's a good idea for Harry to teach us?" she asked doubtfully. "Wouldn't it be better to ask one of the teachers?"

"If we did that, Umbridge could find out what we were up to" hissed Hermione. "And in case you hadn't noticed, she's not letting us use magic in class because she's too stupid to admit that You-Know-Who is back!"

Lavender gasped, Hermione ignored her. "And Fudge has got the stupid idea that Dumbledore's going to use the students as a private army to take over the Ministry. I suppose you've been reading that he's losing his mind?"

Lavender nodded mutely.

"Well you saw him first night back. Did he seem strange to you at all?" challenged Hermione.

"No" whispered Lavender.

"What about Harry. Has he been showing off and trying to get attention?" asked Ginny angrily.

"No" said Lavender slightly louder this time.

"Of course he hasn't!" said Ginny. "Harry's stayed at my house in the holidays and he's never done anything to get attention, not on purpose anyway. When are these lessons starting, Hermione?"

"Come to the Hogs Head, twelve o'clock, first Hogsmeade weekend" said Hermione. "If you've got any friends who are interested bring them along too"

"I might know some people" said Ginny "I'll see if I can find any of them now."

"I think I'll go and tell Padma" said Parvati getting up and following Ginny out of the portrait hole.

Hermione and Lavender stared at each other. There was a very tense silence between them.

"If you still think Harry's a liar, don't come" hissed Hermione angrily before getting up and leaving Lavender alone at the table.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

**POV: Lee**

Lee Jordan sat by himself in the Great Hall watching people coming and going. Ron Weasley, Gryffindor's new Quidditch Keeper came in and hurried over to the Gryffindor table.

"Hi, Lee" said Ron cheerfully before going to sit with his friend, Neville Longbottom.

"Looks like their practice went well" thought Lee. "The rest of them should be here soon". He bent over his plate and swallowed a few mouthfuls of steak and mashed potato. When he looked up, two of the Gryffindor Chasers, Angelina Johnson and her best friend, Alicia Spinnet, were walking towards the Gryffindor table. The third Chaser, Katie Bell didn't appear to have come in yet.

"How was practice?" asked Lee casually as Angelina and Alicia walked past him.

"Don't ask" said Alicia. Angelina was doing up her shoelace and didn't appear to have heard Lee's question.

"Don't ask what?" she said standing up again.

"Er how your Quidditch practice went" said Lee nervously.

"Don't ask" Angelina repeated.

"Why?" said Lee curiously "It can't…"

"It was terrible, Jordan" said Angelina snappishly "And no, I don't want to go out with you"

Angelina walked off to sit near some third years further up the table closely followed by Alicia, who was obviously trying not to laugh.

"Now you have to admit that was better than the last time you asked her" said a mock condescending voice.

Lee jumped. He had been so busy staring at Angelina that he hadn't noticed his best friends, Fred and George Weasley had sat down on either side of him and were eating at top speed.

"Depends which way you look at it" George contradicted Fred. "Last time he at least managed to get the question out"

"Fair point" said Fred. "And what was Angelina's answer the last time you asked her to go out with you?"

"Let me think" said George "Oh yes, I believe it was' he imitated Angelina's voice 'Ask me that again and I'll kill you, Jordan"

Lee had been trying, unsuccessfully, to convince Angelina to go out with him for several years. The last time he had asked her was, unfortunately, about two minutes after Angelina had found out that Harry had received a weeks worth of detentions from Professor Umbridge, their new, and completely useless, Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, and would, subsequently be unable to attend Gryffindor's Keeper tryouts.

"Hurry up and eat" hissed Fred nudging Lee in the ribs. "We want to talk to you"

"I'm listening" said Lee.

"Not here" hissed George glancing up and down the table.

Thinking that whatever Fred and George had to tell him had something to do with the joke shop they were planning to open after they left school, Lee swallowed a few more mouthfuls of his steak and followed the twins out of the Great Hall.

"What?" he asked when Fred had dragged him into an empty classroom.

"Ron's just told us, Harry's teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts" said

George.

"You mean that Umbridge is leaving?" asked Lee hopefully.

"No such luck" said Fred bitterly "But everyone who knows that the Ministry are morons will be able to have real lessons"

"I've always thought that Cornelius Fudge was a bit of an idiot" said Lee. "He just seems to surround himself with people who do whatever he tells them"

"That explains how that stinking traitor got a job in his office" said Fred, his voice full of venom.

Lee knew that Fred was referring to the third Weasley brother, Percy. Fred and George often flew into towering tempers at the mention of his name. Wanting to avoid this, Lee went on with what he had been saying.

"Then Fudge bothers Dumbledore every day asking him how to do everything. And now, when he really needs Dumbledore's advice, Fudge is telling everyone that Dumbledore's mental"

"And they're stupid enough to believe him" said George in a hollow voice.

"I reckon most of the people at the ministry are idiots" said Lee "Not your dad, of course" he added quickly.

"A lot of people at the ministry reckon dad's a bit odd because he likes Muggles" said George.

"But at least he's smart enough to believe Dumbledore" said Fred.

"My dad doesn't really like Fudge either said Lee "But I'm not sure whose side he's on. Anyway, tell me about these Defence lessons that Harry's giving"

"Ron just said that Harry's going to be giving defence lessons and we should go along to the Hogs Head when we have our first Hogsmeade visit. You'll be in it won't you?"

"Who else is in it?" asked Lee.

"As far as we know, aside from us, Ron, Hermione, Angelina, Alicia and Katie" said Fred "And Harry obviously"

"Well you can count me in" said Lee.

"Good" said George "Just don't say anything about it to anyone, especially Umbridge.

"I won't" promised Lee getting up to walk out of the room.

"Oi, Lee, wait a sec" called Fred.

"What?" asked Lee turning around.

"Are you doing this because you want to learn Defence Against the Dark Arts? Or are you just doing it because Angelina is?"

Lee thought for a moment.

"Both" he said.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

**POV: Ron**

After leaving Quidditch practice, Ron headed to the Great Hall for dinner. He spotted Neville sitting by himself about half way along the Gryffindor table.

"Hi, Neville" said Ron sitting down next to him.

"Hi, Ron" answered Neville getting up.

"Where are you going?" asked Ron.

"Oh I was going to go to the library and do some homework" said Neville.

"Well wait for me, I'll come too" said Ron.

"Alright then" said Neville happily sitting down again.

At the staff table, Ron thought that Umbridge was looking rather suspiciously at him and Neville.

"I'm just imagining things" he told himself firmly as he helped himself to some beef stew. Neville poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice which he sipped slowly while Ron ate his dinner. Fifteen minutes later they left the Great Hall.

"What homework do you have to do, Ron?" asked Neville as they entered the library.

"All of it" said Ron gloomily, fiddling with his prefects badge. "What about you?"

Neville also had a large amount of homework, though not as much as Ron.

"Still I don't reckon I'll do to good in the O.W.Ls" said Neville even more gloomily than Ron. "Gran won't be too pleased when she sees my marks"

"Don't worry about it" said Ron "Fred and George only got three O.W.Ls each."

"That's probably two more than I'll get" said Neville "The only thing I'm any good at is Herbology. I'm always the worst in the class at everything else"

"No you're not. Hermione's worse at Divination" said Ron trying to cheer Neville up "Even Trelawney said she was hopeless at it. And you were good at fighting Boggarts in our third year"

"I hate Defence Against the Dark Arts" said Neville miserably. "I mean I used to like it when Professor Lupin was teaching us. And that fake Moody was a good teacher even if he was a maniac. But now it's just boring and Professor Umbridge is an awful teacher. Even Snape would be better than her."

Ron thought that Neville must really hate Umbridge's lessons if he would rather be taught by Snape.

"How would you like to have real Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons, Neville?" whispered Ron.

"How?" asked Neville.

Ron looked around to make sure no Slytherins were within earshot and spotted Dean Thomas at a nearby table.

"There's Dean. He'll be interested in this, come on" said Ron in a low voice. Ron and Neville joined Dean at his table. He appeared to be alone, but Ron spoke quickly in case Seamus Finnigan was close by.

"Dean, I've just told Neville we're going to start having real Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons" whispered Ron. "You'll be in it, won't you?"

Deans eyes lit up.

"You're joking!" he said loudly

"Keep your voice down" hissed Ron urgently.

"Sorry" said Dean. "It's just – how are we going to learn real defence. We need a teacher for one thing"

"And we've got one" said Ron "Harry"

"Harry?" repeated Dean

"Yeah Hermione got the idea that he should teach Defence Against the Dark Arts to anyone who wants to learn some proper spells" said Ron. "There's a group of us meeting in the Hogs Head. You should come if you're interested.

"Well I wouldn't mind knowing how to do some real defensive spells" said Dean "And Umbridge obviously isn't going to teach us. Is the Ministry really saying that Dumbledore's a nutter?"

"Yes" said Ron darkly. "It was in the Daily Prophet all summer. Didn't you see any of it?"

"My family are Muggles, we don't get the Daily Prophet" said Dean "I only know what Seamus told me"

Ron felt his ears turning red as they always did when he was angry.

"Why did you go asking Seamus for?" he snarled

"I had to find out somewhere" said Dean defensively "And Harry hasn't said anything about You-Know-Who coming back or what happened with Diggory. I didn't even know about Dumbledore getting chucked out of the wiggengamot…"

"Wizengamot" Ron and Neville corrected him.

"What is that anyway?" asked Dean.

"You don't know" said Ron incredulously.

"Of course I don't know!" hissed Dean. "I hadn't even heard of it until the first day back here. And there was that other thing, the International something"

"Confederation of Wizards" said Ron.

"That's a great help. I've never heard of that either" snapped Dean. "You two are pure bloods; you know what's going on!"

"No we…" Ron started to say but Dean cut him off.

"Do you know how awkward it is to go back to the Muggle world every summer?"

Ron shook his head.

"It's almost impossible" said Dean. "My family are always asking questions about Hogwarts. And if I tell them everything that goes on here, my mum and stepfather wouldn't let me come back."

"What about your real dad?" asked Neville.

"He walked out on me and my mum years ago" said Dean.

"What happened to him?" said Neville.

"I don't know and to be honest, I don't really care" said Dean. "I don't remember him. I haven't seen him or had a letter or a telephone call since he left. He's never even bothered to send me a card for my birthday. Anyway, when I go home for the holidays I have to pretend I'm a normal person - I mean a Muggle"

Ron didn't know what was so hard about this. Dean was Muggle born after all. He must know all about the Muggle world.

"Of course I do" said Dean when Ron pointed this out. "But not everyone knows I'm a wizard, just my mum and stepfather and my brothers and sisters. If visitors come around to my house they're always asking me things like what I'm doing at school, mum's told everyone that I go to a Muggle boarding school. I have to lock all my school stuff in my stepfather's study so my friends don't see it if they come over. Or they ask what films I've seen or what I think about something on the news. And half the time I haven't seen any films or I don't know what's on the news. When I'm here, I don't know what's going on at home. When I'm home, I don't know what's happening here. "

Ron, being a pure blood, was always well informed about goings on in the wizarding world and his father's fascination for muggles gave him enough knowledge of what to do on the rare occasions when he had to venture into the muggle world. But even though his best friends had both grown up with muggles he had never thought about those from muggle families having to adjust to what was, for them, a strange environment, and then try to go about their normal lives when they went home.

"Yeah that's what Harry said too" said Ron "He came to stay with me in the holidays and when he arrived he was really mad because he'd been stuck at his aunt and uncle's place for a month and no one had bothered to tell him what was going on"

"_I can't blame him_" he thought. "_I'd be mad too if I didn't know what was going on. But I don't know anything either. Dad and Bill and everyone only told us_…"

Ron's thoughts were interrupted partly by his own realisation that what little he had been told about Voldemort's return was a great deal more than what his fellow students knew (with the possible exception of Draco Malfoy) and partly by Neville tapping him on the arm.

"Er Ron, weren't you going to tell us about having defence against the dark arts lessons from Harry?"

"Oh yeah" said Ron "Well Hermione had the idea that we should learn it ourselves because there's no way we'll learn anything useful from Umbridge. And she's here to stay because Fudge passed a decree saying the ministry can appoint teachers if Dumbledore can't get anyone and made her Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher"

"Yeah I read that" said Dean.

"My gran says that Fudge is the worst Minister for Magic we've ever had" said Neville. "He only got the job because Dumbledore didn't want it. I'll come to Harry's lessons, Ron"

"I will too" said Dean.

"Good" said Ron "just don't tell Seamus. I don't think Harry will want to teach him"

_Authors notes:_

_I know that Dean's dad is dead, but he doesn't_

_elvengirl9, at the time this story takes place Ginny has given up on Harry and she has a boyfriend_.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter**  
**

**POV: Michael**

"Michael, hurry up or there won't be anything left" said Anthony Goldstein impatiently.

Michael Corner looked up from his long and difficult potions essay.

"I'm almost finished" he said "You two go on. I'll meet you downstairs"

Anthony nodded and left the Ravenclaw common room with Terry Boot.

Michael finished writing his essay and put it away safely in his dormitory. When he left the common room he found himself face to face with Parvati Patil, a Gryffindor in his year.

"Michael, could you see if Padma's in there?" she asked.

"Yes alright then."

Parvati and Padma were identical twins. Michael thought it was a bit odd that they were in different houses especially when all the members of some families all went to the same house. Michael's girlfriend, Ginny Weasley, her six older brothers and her parents had all been sorted into Gryffindor. He also knew that everyone in the Malfoy family had been put into Slytherin. Michael looked around for Padma Patil and spotted her sitting a short distance from a fourth year girl who had her face hidden behind a magazine which she was holding upside down. Even though Michael couldn't see her face, he knew that this girl was Luna Lovegood, a fourth year. Michael thought that how Luna had gotten into Ravenclaw was an even bigger mystery than why the Patil twins were in different houses. Luna's unofficial nickname of "Loony" certainly suited her.

"Padma, your sister's waiting for you" said Michael.

"Oh OK" said Padma "I'm coming"

Michael followed Padma out of the common room. The Patils stopped to talk about half way along the corridor. Michael kept going and went down the first staircase he came to. When he was about half way down, he tripped and was met at the bottom of the stairs by the unwelcome sight of a scrawny dust coloured cat.

"Go away" Michael hissed at Mrs Norris as he stood up and saw that his shoelace was untied. Michael cursed under his breath as the cat slinked past him with her tail in the air. Michael tied his shoe and walked off in the opposite direction hoping that Mrs Norris hadn't gone to fetch her master, Argus Filch, the Hogwarts caretaker. Falling down stairs was not a punishable offence at Hogwarts, but Michael knew that if Filch had his way it would be. Luckily for Michael, Filch didn't turn up

What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you of course" said Ginny. "I want to tell you something. You know Hermione Granger, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know Hermione" said Michael. "But you might want to find somewhere else to tell me whatever it is that you're going to tell me because Mrs Norris was hanging around here a few minutes ago."

Michael and Ginny found a disused classroom on the fifth floor.

"Alright then" said Michael "What did you want to tell me?"

"Well Hermione had the idea that we should try to learn Defence Against the Dark Arts ourselves" said Ginny "I thought you might be interested"

"Do you mean like a study group?" asked Michael.

"Not exactly" said Ginny "I think Hermione was thinking more of learning real spells and having practical lessons. But she doesn't think that Umbridge would approve if she knew what we were doing"

"It's going to be hard getting around her" agreed Michael.

"I know" said Ginny "so we're asking people who are interested to meet in the Hog's Head when we have our first Hogsmeade weekend. Anyone who wants to come can hear what Harry's…"

"Harry?" said Michael in a confused voice. "But I thought Hermione…"

"It's Hermione's idea" said Ginny "But Harry's the one who's going to be teaching us. You'll come won't you?"

"It could be interesting" Michael admitted. "What about your brothers?"

"What about them?" asked Ginny.

"Are they going to be in it?" asked Michael.

"I don't know. I suppose Ron will because he's friends with Hermione and Harry" said Ginny. "I don't know about Fred and George. Why?"

"I was just wondering" said Michael. "Do they know that we're going out"

"No" admitted Ginny "but I suppose they'll find out if we all do this thing. But I wouldn't worry about it if I were you"

Michael thought that Ginny's brother's finding out that the two of them were going out was definitely something to worry about.

"Well Ron will probably take it badly, if he notices" said Ginny "but he won't do anything. And Fred and George are still too busy taking the mickey out of Ron for being made a prefect to pay attention to what I'm doing"

"Being a prefect's nothing to laugh at" said Michael.

"It is to Fred and George" said Ginny. "You're not a prefect so they'll probably like you anyway. You are going to come aren't you?"

"I'd like to" said Michael eagerly "do you think it'd be OK if I bought a couple of friends"

"I don't see why not" said Ginny. "Just make sure the Slytherins don't find out what we're doing"

Michael looked quizzically at Ginny.

"But they hate Harry. They won't want to be in a club that he's in"

"I know that" said Ginny "But if any of them find out what we're doing, Draco Malfoy will hear about it and his father's always at the ministry. You know that Umbridge used to work in Fudge's office, don't you?"

"I'd heard that" said Michael. "Are you saying that if the Slytherins find out about this…"

"Umbridge'll know about five minutes later" whispered Ginny

"What took you so long?" said Terry when Michael had sat down next to him in the Great Hall.

"I ran into Ginny" said Michael. He was going to tell his friends what Ginny had told him about forming a secret defence against the dark arts group, but he decided to wait until they were back in their common room. If he mentioned it now there was a very good chance that a Slytherin could overhear them.

"You'd better hurry up and eat. It's half past eight" said Anthony.

"And I suppose you'll put me in detention if I'm wandering around the castle after nine o'clock" said Michael sarcastically.

"I will if no one else is around to do it" said Anthony jokingly. But by nine o'clock the three boys were back in their common room which was rather crowded and noisy. Michael was eager to tell Anthony and Terry what Ginny had told him before dinner, but he didn't want to risk the entire common room overhearing him. He went up to his dormitory where they would be assured of some privacy.

"It's a bit early to be going to bed, isn't it" said Terry.

"I'm not going to bed" said Michael "I want to talk to you two and we won't get any privacy in the common room"

"And I suppose you've got some big secret to tell us" said Terry sarcastically.

"Well yeah" said Michael wiping the smirk off Terry's face. "Ginny told me that Potter's going to give secret defence against the dark arts lessons"

"How?" asked Anthony "We'd need a place to meet in secret for one thing"

"Well Ginny said everyone who's interested should meet in The Hogs Head on the first Hogsmeade weekend – But I think that's just to organise things" said Michael "I don't think Potter's going to start teaching us all defence spells in the pub" He smiled as he imagined a large group of students duelling in a pub full of customers.

"I think it could be interesting" said Terry. "I heard that Potter killed a Basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office in our second year"

"A what?" asked Michael.

"A Basilisk" repeated Terry. "It's this huge snake and everyone who looks it in the eye will die. You know that's what attacked those people who were petrified. It was just a lucky coincidence that none of them were killed."

"I don't think Potter's going to teach us how to kill Basilisks" said Anthony with a hint of laughter in his voice. "Maybe he'll teach us to speak parseltongue so we can ask them to go away"

"I don't know what sort of stuff Potter's going to teach" Michael admitted. "But it can't hurt to go along and see if we're interested"

"I suppose not" said Terry. "I wonder why Potter's decided to start giving defence lessons"

"His friend, Hermione Granger, she talked him into it" said Michael. "She probably wants to do it because she's afraid of failing her O.W.L. But I still want to go. You'll come too, won't you"

"Well even if we don't learn anything from Potter, it's still going to be more interesting than sitting in a classroom with Umbridge" said Anthony.

"So you'll come?" asked Michael.

"Yeah I reckon" said Anthony.

"Yeah definitely" said Terry eagerly.

_Authors notes: Sorry about the long delay between updates. And thank you for your kind reviews.  
_


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

**POV: Hermione**

Hermione woke up early on Saturday morning with the intention of asking some people from other houses if they were interested in learning Defence Against the Dark Arts from Harry before the Great Hall became too full.

She spotted Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott not far from the end of the Hufflepuff table. "Ernie will definitely be interested" thought Hermione. As far as Hermione was aware, Ernie was the only student, aside from Loony Lovegood, to openly declare that he did not think Harry was a liar. Ernie was also very well liked and respected by his peers and Hermione thought that this could be an advantage. She walked over to Ernie and Hannah, trying not to draw too much attention to herself.

"Hi, Ernie. Hi, Hannah" said Hermione trying to sound casual. "Do you mind if I sit down"

"No go ahead" said Hannah.

"Thanks" said Hermione sitting down on the bench next to her. "I wanted to ask you two something"

"What?" asked Ernie. "Have some toast" he added pushing a plate towards her.

"Thanks, Ernie" said Hermione as she took a slice and buttered it. "Listen, we're not going to learn anything in Defence Against the Dark Arts this year if Umbridge isn't going to let us use magic"

"I realise that" said Ernie. "Even the theory we're learning in her class might not be any use in our O.W.L"

"And it doesn't matter how well you know the theory. It won't be any use if you can't do the spells" said Hermione. Hermione never thought she would hear herself saying these words. Last year when she had been teaching Harry how to do a summoning charm she insisted that he learn the theory. "Anyway, I thought we should learn Defence Against the Dark Arts by ourselves"

"What do you mean?" asked Hannah.

"I mean finding people who are interested in learning defensive spells and starting - well, I suppose you'd call it a study group" said Hermione. "Ron and I have been asking people"

"I wouldn't mind having defence lessons"

Hermione, Ernie and Hannah looked up. A tall, skinny boy with blond hair and an upturned nose was standing opposite them. Hermione had seen him before in Herbology lessons, but she had never spoken to him.

"Hello, Zacharias" said Hannah. "Hermione, this is Zacharias Smith. Zacharias, this is Hermione…"

"I know who you are" said Zacharias abruptly. He sat down again and leaned forwards slightly. "When are these lessons starting?" he asked.

Hermione hesitated. She wasn't sure if she liked Zacharias. However, she couldn't exactly stop him from coming.

"We haven't worked that out yet" she said. "We're just asking people who we think might be interested to meet in the Hogs Head…"

"Why the Hogs Head?" asked Zacharias.

"Because students hardly ever go in there" said Hermione. "Apparently it's a bit dodgy"

"You want to start an illegal study group in a dodgy pub" said Zacharias sceptically. "How long do you think that's going to last?"

"Have you got a better idea?" challenged Hermione. "The Three Broomsticks won't be any good because it will be full of students and a Slytherin could overhear us and run and tell Umbridge"

Zacharias looked defeated.

"Well we could not go into Hogsmeade and meet in one of the classrooms" he suggested.

"Don't be stupid" whispered Hermione "Filch or Mrs Norris might catch us"

Zacharias thought for a moment.

"I suppose the Hogs Head will be alright. What time should we come"

Hermione sighed. She definitely did not like Zacharias, but now that he knew what was going on she couldn't tell him that he couldn't come.

"Twelve o'clock. Do you know where it is?"

"Yeah I know" said Zacharias. "Who've you got teaching these defence lessons anyway?"

"My friend, Harry…"

"Potter?" interrupted Zacharias.

"I don't know any other Harry's, Zacharias" said Hannah. "That is who's going to be doing it, isn't it?"

"Yes" said Hermione. "I'm not sure when we'll be starting. The meeting in the village is just to give us a chance to organise things and see who's interested and let everyone hear what Harry's got to say"

Zacharias raised his eyebrows.

"That could be interesting"

"He thinks Harry's lying" thought Hermione as Zacharias got up and walked off "And I was stupid enough to tell him what we're doing. He's probably half way to…"

"Hermione!" hissed Ernie reaching across Hannah and poking her in the arm.

"Sorry, I was daydreaming" she lied. "So are you going meet us in Hogsmeade"

"Definitely" said Ernie. "You heard me saying that my family have always stood behind Dumbledore"

Hermione nodded.

"And I am at a loss as to why no one has stood up to the ministry and told them that …"

"Maybe they're afraid too, Ernie" said Hannah thoughtfully.

"Not to mention they could end up in Azkaban" added Hermione.

"What?" asked Ernie and Hannah fearfully.

"I stayed with Ron Weasley in the holidays" whispered Hermione "Well his father works for the ministry. And he said that Dumbledore will be arrested if he's not careful"

"Well _I'm_ not afraid to support Harry" said Ernie.

"And Harry really appreciates it" said Hermione earnestly. "But we don't want this all over the school. We just want to find some people who we can trust"

"Zacharias is alright, Hermione" said Hannah solemly. "I know he can be a bit abrasive, but he won't tell anyone what we're doing"

"The teachers are coming" hissed Ernie. "Hermione, you'd better go before Umbridge comes in here.

Hermione left the Great Hall still not entirely convinced she could trust Zacharias Smith. She felt like kicking herself for letting him overhear her. What if it had been Draco Malfoy?

"I'll just have to hope he doesn't tell" she thought. "Maybe I'm being paranoid. He might be genuinely interested in…"

Hermione was so preoccupied with Zacharias Smith that she wasn't paying attention to where she was going and bumped right into someone walking across the entrance hall. Hermione recognised the girl she had walked into at once. Her name was Eloise Midgen and she was well known for having rather bad acne and for accidentally removing her own nose when she had tried to curse her pimples off.

"I'm sorry, Eloise. I wasn't watching where I was going. Are you alright?" said Hermione.

"Yes I'm fine" said Eloise. Although her acne had improved several pimples still remained. Eloise walked off before Hermione had a chance to say anything else. However, the brief meeting had given her an idea. Smiling to herself, Hermione headed to the library.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

**POV: Cho**

"Cho? Hey, Cho"

Cho Chang lowered the copy of Witch Weekly she had been pretending to read. Roger Davies the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain had just sat down opposite her.

"Oh hello, Roger"

"Hi" said Roger awkwardly. "Um, Cho, listen. I was wondering if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me?"

"No thank you" said Cho quickly. She immediately knew that she had sounded rude. "I mean I don't want to go out with anyone just yet. Not after…"

"I understand" said Roger. "I'm sorry"

"That's alright" said Cho.

Roger looked around uncomfortably before mumbling something about needing to return a library book.

Cho stared at the spot where Roger had been sitting after he got up. It wasn't that she didn't like him. In fact she might have accepted his invitation if it hadn't been for Cedric. Cedric Diggory had been killed by Lord Voldemort at the end of last year and to make things worse the Ministry of Magic were acting as if his death was an accident. Cho was so lost in her thoughts that it was a few seconds before she realised that Roger's vacated seat had been filled by her friend, Marietta Edgecombe.

"Sorry, Marietta, I didn't see you there"

Marietta nodded stiffly.

"We're you thinking about Diggory just now?" she asked.

"Yes" Cho admitted.

"I think you should talk to someone about him, Cho" said Marietta. "You could talk to Professor Flitwick. Or Sprout might be better since she's head of Hufflepuff. Or how about Madam Pomfrey? Perhaps she could give you something to…"

"I'm not ill, Marietta!" said Cho.

"Sorry"

"That's alright" said Cho. "Actually there is someone I'd like to talk to"

"Who?" asked Marietta. "Flitwick? Sprout?"

"It's not a teacher" said Cho. "I want to talk to Harry Potter

Harry Potter had been with Cedric when he died. It seemed lately that Cho's mind was always on Harry or Cedric. She wanted to know exactly how Cedric died and the only person who could tell her that was Harry, but she had never been able to work up the courage to ask. Or to be more accurate something or someone always interrupted at the wrong time and caused her to lose her nerve. In addition to not being able to find the courage to talk to Harry about Cedric, Cho didn't have any idea what she should say if she did. She couldn't start a conversation with 'Hi Harry, could you tell me what happened when Cedric died"

An odd expression passed over Marietta's face.

"Do you like him?" she questioned.

"Harry?" said Cho. "Yeah I suppose – I mean he's nice"

Apart from thinking that he was nice, Cho wasn't entirely sure how, or what, she should feel about Harry. However, she did not dwell on this because for the third time that evening, her thoughts were interrupted; this time by a fifth year called Padma Patil.

"Hello, Padma" said Cho.

"Hi" said Padma in an excited whisper. "I just heard there's going to be a club for students who want real defence against the dark arts lessons. My sister, Parvati, in Gryffindor, told me about it. I thought you'd be interested"

"It could be worthwhile" said Cho. "How did your sister find out about it?"

"Hermione Granger told her" said Padma "You know Harry Potter's friend. Apparently that's who she's got to teach this thing"

"He's doing it because of You-Know-Who, isn't he?" said Cho at the same time as Marietta said in a horrified voice "You mean it won't be Professor Umbridge?".

"Of course not" said Padma. "The last thing we want is for her to find out. And yeah I think Harry and Hermione want to start this club so we'll at least have some hope if there's an attack on the school"

"Well I don't think this sort of thing is a terribly good idea. We could get in a lot of trouble" said Marietta with concern. "Not just us, but our families."

"Marietta's mum works for the ministry" explained Cho.

"She won't be working there much longer if I get on the wrong side of Professor Umbridge" said Marietta. "l I don't want any part of this. And I hope you won't be stupid enough to join, Cho. It could ruin our whole future"

Cho thought that Marietta had her priorities wrong. She thought that fighting the dark side, even if it was just by joining a student club, was far more important than staying out of trouble with a teacher whom she did not care for.

"You're the one who's stupid if you don't join" said Cho angrily. "You know Umbridge isn't teaching us anything useful. I'm joining Harry's club, Padma. When is it starting?"

"First Hogsmeade weekend. Twelve o'clock in the Hog's Head" said Padma. "It's just for everyone who's interested to come and hear what Harry's got planned and organise a time and a place to meet"

"Thanks for telling us about this, Padma" said Cho earnestly. "I'm really looking forward to it"

"So am I" said Padma. "I can't wait to see what Harry's going to teach us"

Cho's reason for saying she would join Harry's club was twofold. It was true that she was interested in the lessons, but she also thought it might give her a chance to know Harry better.

"I think you should come, Marietta. Umbridge will never know so your mum's job will be safe. At least come and meet Harry in the village"

"Ok I'll come" said Marietta in a defeated tone.

Cho contemplated asking Roger if he was interested in joining Harry Potter's defence against the dark arts group, but she decided against it. Partly because she was sure he would turn it down because it was his last chance to win the Quidditch cup and partly because she was afraid he might think she had changed her mind about going out with him. Her own reason for wanting to join Harry's club was twofold. It was true that she was interested in the lessons, but she also thought it might give her a chance to know Harry better.


End file.
